Virgin Atlantic captain Chris Pohl's eight-word message on Instagram went viral this week.
As the world bounces back from the coronavirus pandemic, with many airlines starting to take to the skies, Pohl decided to post a message to attract travellers' attention.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Captain Chris 👨🏼✈️(@captainchris) on May 30, 2020 at 4:04am PDT
Wearing his uniform, he holds up a sign that states: "Buy airline tickets like you bought toilet paper", a viral message that has taken over social media.
Pohl credits the inspiration to other accounts like @dudewithsign and @pilotcharlotte who took a similar route by sharing messages on cardboard.
Pohl believes that the message will inspire people to book tickets so that the aviation industry will fly again.
His post since received more than 4 600 likes on the platform.
He posted: “BUY AIRLINE TICKETS LIKE YOU BOUGHT TOILET PAPER.Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I have been following @dudewithsign since I started on Instagram and I saw @pilotcharlotte posted a similar message. I put them together to make my own version. Please RE-POST and pass this message to everyone you know, because it’s REAL. We need the world to start booking tickets, which will allow airlines to fill aircraft and get us all flying again. The only thing holding us back, is you; our loyal customers/passengers, without you, we’re grounded.
Let’s get the world flying again.” (sic)
Captain Pohl told Daily Mail that sincere he posted the image, he has received hundreds of DMs, texts, emails, WhatsApp messages and Facebook messages and calls.
“Messages arriving from all over the world. Many travel agents are asking to use the image, and of course, the answer is yes. This photo is not about me, it's about sending a fun message to get people motivated to buy airline tickets,” he told the publication.
User mcecil07 joked on his post: “If the cost of airline ticket is the same like toilet paper why not?? Lol! 😂”